PlumbCity

Company Facts

Location: Essex, UK

Industry: Plumbing and Heating Services

Number of Employees: 80

Web site: www.plumbcity.com

"Our people and our stock holding are what differentiates us in the market... we try to offer the best possible customer service and we hold £4 million worth of stock across our branches-most of which is available for delivery the following day."
Steve Wimbledon, director | PlumbCity

Plumber and Heating Expert Future-Proofs its Business with Epicor BisTrack™

PlumbCity started trading in 2003 from one branch in Colchester. The company now operate from 11 branches and typically serves small plumbing and heating firms.

Since the outset, PlumbCity has been using a Linux based Epicor system to process sales and stock management. But when BisTrack software became part of the Epicor family, Steve visited other Epicor BisTrack users from the plumbing and heating industry and liked what he saw. He said, "It was obvious that companies approaching the system in a positive way were those getting the most out of it, and I was impressed by the extra functionality it could offer. Our existing system had served us well, but to offer a more streamlined service to our customers, I really needed to have more control over how we processed transactions and to be able to limit what individual users could do. A key requirement was to have better control over specials. They are a big part of our business."

"With our existing system we can convert data to Excel and run reports but we have no dashboard functionality to give us business intelligence when we need it. That was the real appeal of BisTrack-to be able to access information quickly and not have to rely on our IT department to get it for us."

At the moment the company uses third party software to produce dashboards that only certain people have access to. With BisTrack each branch manager will have their own dashboard so they can measure their own success.

Steve explained, "Not only will be they be able to check their sales figures, they will also see where they are with returns to suppliers or outstanding orders. With all that information constantly in front of them it will be easier for them to drill down and make those responsible accountable for their actions or to delegate tasks.

BisTrack will really empower our management at all levels-whether they are directors, branch, or financial managers."

ScanTrack

"Using BisTrack's ScanTrack and related documents features, we're looking forward to being able to drill down to find all the documents related to an order. These features will make a massive difference for us-by reducing printing and saving time on filing and searching. For example, when we get an issue with something bought in for a customer, at the moment it usually involves three or four people searching for the purchase order and the delivery note. This will be a big plus for us."

Implementation

The Epicor team devised a low risk 'migration plan' to enable PlumbCity to move across smoothly to BisTrack from the legacy system. All branches started using BisTrack on the same day and 'BisTrack Champions' had already been trained on the system so they could be on standby at each location.

In Jason's opinion, because BisTrack is Microsoft Windows® based it will easy for users to figure things out for themselves. "It looks so different to the Linux based system," he said. "Currently a manager will ask me to make a report for them, but with BisTrack they'll be able to do it themselves, it's so intuitive and easy to use."

Online portal and the future

In the future Steve plans to implement BisTrack's barcoding and online trading functionality, as well as the online portal where customers can check the status of their account and download PODs, etc. "This will be another huge benefit for us," he said. "We can save time and money by letting customers continue to interact with us even when we're closed!"

About Epicor

Epicor Software Corporation is a global leader delivering business software solutions to the manufacturing, distribution, retail, and service industries. With more than 40 years of experience, Epicor has more than 20,000 customers in over 150 countries. Epicor solutions enable companies to drive increased efficiency and improve profitability. With a history of innovation, industry expertise and passion for excellence, Epicor inspires customers to build lasting competitive advantage. Epicor provides the single point of accountability that local, regional, and global businesses demand. For more information, visit www.epicor.com.

Success Highlights:

Challenges

Wanted to offer a more streamlined service to customers

Needed more control over transaction processing and being able to limit what individual users can do

Required better control over special offers

Being able to access information quickly and not having to rely on the IT department was vital

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